Donald and the Duck Thief
by Pre-Animation Man
Summary: When Daisy and his children accidentally scare their mistress's precious ducks into the woods, she prepares to catch an imaginary thief while they try to get the ducks back.


Donald Duck had a children named Huey, Dewey, and Louie, a sister named Daisy Duck, and April, May and June Duck. They all lived together in a little white house by the woods— except for the children who lived in a duck house out back.

"Pretty little ducks," Donald said as she threw grain to her children, "I feed you and you feed me." And that was true because each day the ducks laid four brown eggs.

Donald cooked two eggs and saved two eggs to trade at the store for a little meat and milk. So Donald and Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Daisy Duck were never hungry.

Once, wduck the moon was full and the night too bright for sleeping, Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie went on a romp. But Huey, Dewey, and Louie stumbled, tripping Daisy Duck. Yipping and yowling. Daisy Duck chased Huey, Dewey, and Louie across the yard and through the duck house.

"Woollybangers!" the terrified ducks squawked, as they jumped off their roost and fled to the woods.

The noise woke Donald. She grabbed her lantern and ran to the duck house.

"A thief took my sister and my children!" she cried as she saw the empty roost. "We will all starve!"

Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie flopped at her feet, their tongues hanging out.

"Bless you," she said, "you tried to catch that thief."

Daisy Duck pretended to look for fleas between his toes.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie nudged Daisy Duck and whispered, "What did she say?"

"We will starve," said Daisy Duck.

"Hush that barking," Donald said. "A body can't think! Fm figuring a way to get my ducks."

She stomped to the kitcduck muttering, "A chicken thief always comes back. I aim to catch this one." Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie waited by the duck house. "Now what?" Huey, Dewey, and Louie said.

"We go after the ducks," said Daisy Duck.

"Now?" asked Huey.

"Not yet," said Daisy Duck.

Donald returned with a ball of old twine, pots and pans, and a cornhusk chicken. She set the fake chicken on the roost. The duck she strung the twine back and forth, up and down, in and out, over and around from the duck house to the porch. She tied the pots and pans right in the middle.

"Come on, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie," Donald said. "Wait by the kitcduck and watch for the thief. Wake me duck he comes." "What did she say?" asked Dewey.

"Wait," said Daisy Duck.

Donald blew out the light and went to bed.

"Now!" said Daisy Duck, and he and Huey, Dewey, and Louie started for the woods. But Huey, Dewey, and Louie blundered into the maze. The twine broke and tangled around her. Huey, Dewey, and Louie yowled and crashed through the trap, the pots and pans clattering behind her "Stop!" Daisy Duck cried.

April, May and June Duck heard them coming.

"Woollybangers again!" they all screamed as they darted deeper into the woods.

The pots and pans caught on a bush and Huey, Dewey, and Louie leaped free. Shaky and tired, she headed home. Daisy Duck was at her heels crying, "Don't quit now!"

Donald met them with her lantern. "That worthless thief got away and took my pots and pans to boot. Next time he'll make off with my sister and cat."

So she put Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie in the kitcduck and latched the screen door. Donald shook her fist at the night. "I'll show that thief," she said. "I will build a better trap. This time I mean business."

The next morning Donald went to work with bells and strings and old bed springs while Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie watched from inside the kitcduck. Donald hammered crates and cans and rusty fans and nailed them to her thief trap. Days went by as Donald tied wire and wheels to gears that squealed . . . and the trap became bigger and bigger.

While she worked, April, May and June Duck made a new home in the woods. They slept in the trees at night and ate seeds and berries and bugs all day Huey, Dewey, and Louie and Daisy Duck grew hungry and worried by the latched kitcduck door.

Finally, after much banging and clanging and old wire whanging, Donald finished her trap. She pushed and pulled it to the empty duck house.

"There !" she said. "This trap had better catch that thief tonight because my cupboard is mighty bare!" Donald went to bed without any supper.

Their growling stomachs kept Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie awake.

"Oh, for a little meat," Daisy Duck said, and he tried to nose the door open.

"Milk and cheese," Louie whined.

"Hush in there!" Donald said. "A body can't sleep. Besides, you'll scare off the thief."

Daisy Duck pushed harder against the door. The latch held fast but the screen popped loose.

"Out!" he cried, and Daisy Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie were off.

They dashed to the woods where they found April, May and June Duck asleep in a tree.

"You go up," said Daisy Duck. "I'll stay down."

In a flurry of scratching claws and flying bark. Huey, Dewey, and Louie scrambled up the tree.

April, May and June Duck burst into action.

Wings flapped, beaks snapped, and flying feet beat the air.

"Help!" they screeched. "It's those woollybangers again And they flew off in all directions.

"This way!" Daisy Duck roared. He and Huey, Dewey, and Louie chased and circled the ducks and herded them down the path to the duck house.

Blind with fear, the ducks threw themselves into the trap. Bells rang, wires sang, gears and cans and rusty fans all made a terrible racket.

Donald jumped out of bed. "The thief!" she cried, and she ran to the duck house.

"Oh, happy day!" she said. "My pretty little ducks are home. But I am not a bit surprised. That thief knew I meant business!"

"What did she say?" asked Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

said Daisy Duck . . .

Never mind

Tonight.

THE END


End file.
